Michelle's Review: Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Paperback: 400 pagesPublisher: Berkley SensationLanguage: EnglishISBN 10: 042521575XISBN 13: 9780425215753Cover Image from FantasticFictionSource of my copy: bought with my own moneySynopsis (from GoodReads)Hailed as a major new talent in paranormal romance, Nalini Singh takes us deeper into the world of the Psy and the changelings in her latest extraordinary novel, where a gifted woman sees passion in her future-a passion that is absolutely forbidden by her kind...

Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous-aching need...exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her. Changeling Vaughn D'Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar's instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith's sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced-and keep her from Vaughn...

Michelle's Review:This book is the second in the Psy-changeling series by Nalini Singh. You can read my review of the first book Slave to Sensationhere. My review for this book is long overdue but I purposely didn't do a review right after I finished it (as I usually do with other books) because I wanted a few days to gather my thoughts. Then, life happened and I started reading other books and I simply forgot to write the review. Only when I started reading the third book in the series did I finally realize my oversight. Anyway, here we go...

This book is about Vaughn, a member of the DarkRiver changeling pack, and Faith Nightstar, a Psy who can predict the future. Vaughn's deal is that he is not a jaguar who was adopted by the DarkRiver leopard pack after his parents abandoned him and his sister (who didn't survive) when he was young. He's just the type of romantic alpha hero I love: a scarred loner who doesn't want anyone to get close to him but when he finds his special heroine his "downfall" is all the more sweeter. Vaughn's special gal is Faith Nightstar and in the beginning of the book Faith finds out that her sister has been murdered. She was very disturbed by this news but as a Psy she's not supposed to feel any emotions. She decided to go to the DarkRiver pack to ask Sascha (a renegade Psy and the heroine of StS) questions about the strange emotions she's suddenly experiencing.

I found that I liked VoH better than StS. It was not as hot a read as StS but I felt Vaughn and Faith's chemistry more than I did Lucas and Sascha's and the writing in this book was also a lot more fluid. Maybe because Slave to Sensation was the first book in the series (more back story is needed to build the Psy-changeling world) and also Ms. Singh's debut book that it had that slight awkwardness? I like the fact that the Vaughn and Faith's relationship was more centralized in this book, but one of my complaints about this one is that, like in the previous book, we get to know the heroine a lot more than the hero. I would've liked to read more about Vaughn; for example, he was apparently a sculptor but that hardly explored and just it felt tacked on. Another thing that bothered me a bit was the fact that the plot and characters in this one is very similar to the first book--another changeling hero, a Psy heroine and a mysterious serial killer killer subplot--but I got passed it because the action did pick up as we delve deeper into the fascinating Psy world and the possible rebellion against the Silence protocol that may be in the works.

Yup, another silly looking cover, but what can you do? Just look beyond it and you'll get another well-written and very addicting sci-fi/paranormal/romance series by Ms. Singh. I suggest starting with StS though as I think the Psy-changeling series will be a better reading experience if read in order. I give this book 4.25 stars out of 5.

Here are the other books in the series in order: (click on the covers for blurbs)

**Disclaimer: I bought this book with my own money. My review is based on my own experiences with the book and only share my honest, unbiased opinions. I am NOT promoting or discouraging anyone from purchasing and reading this book--whether I liked or disliked it. PLEASE use this blog only as a source and not the definite answer to your inquiries.**

1 comment

I liked this one too- I'm happy to say that starting with the third book in the series, the plots get more complex. I think people can read the first two books in either order but after that it's important to read in order. I have Blaze of Memory on my nightstand and I keep putting off reading it, probably because then I have to wait for the next one! Great review!